Tag Archives: Programming

Come check out the Library’s Earth Day exhibit of books and e-resources on Monday, April 22, from 10:00 am – 2 pm. We’ll be in Room C120, just inside the Library entrance from the B Building. (Look for the colorful windows in the B Building hallway just past the bookstore.) Enjoy a cookie and stroll through our Going Green@ Your Library displays and presentations.

We will be participating in the college-wide event: visit our location and get your Earth Day passport stamped for the prize drawing!

ECC Library is hosting two book discussions this fall sponsored by the MAGIC committee. Bring a bag lunch and join us for lively discussions in the library conference room, SRC 250. Light refreshments will be served.

Tuesday, September 14th, 12:30-1:45pm, SRC 250Just Like Us – The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America
by Helen Thorpe

Just Like Us tells the story of four high school students whose parents entered this country illegally from Mexico. It is a coming-of-age story about girlhood and friendship, as well as the resilience required to transcend poverty. It is also a book about identity – what it means to steal an identity, what it means to have a public identity, what it means to inherit an identity from parents. The girls, their families, and the critics who object to their presence allow the reader to watch one of the most complicated social issues of our times unfurl in a major American city. And the perspective of the author gives the reader insight into both the most powerful and the most vulnerable members of American society as they grapple with the same dilemma: Who gets to live in America? And what happens when we don’t agree?

Thursday, September 30th, 12:30-1:45pm, SRC 150Three Cups of Tea – One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace… One School at a Time
by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

In Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a time, Greg Mortenson and journalist David Oliver Relin, recount the journey that led Mortenson from a failed 1993 attempt to climb Pakistan’s K2, the world’s second highest mountain, to successfully establish schools in some of the most remote regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. By replacing guns with pencils, rhetoric with reading, Mortenson combines his unique background with his intimate knowledge of the third-world to promote peace with books, not bombs, and successfully bring education and hope to remote communities in central Asia. Three Cups of Tea is at once an unforgettable adventure and the inspiring true story of how one man really is changing the world—one school at a time.

Do you know what has been celebrated officially on April 30 since 1999?

As you know, our calendar is full of celebrations and holidays. We commemorate Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Secretary’s Day, Bosses’ Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Cinco de Mayo, African American Read-In Chain, and Latino Read-In Chain. We celebrate almost everybody and everything. However, before 1999, we were officially ignoring our children in our celebrations.

It all started in 1997, when teachers and librarians began to celebrate April 30 as Children’s Day/Book Day -Día de los Niños/ Día de los Libros . Since then, libraries, museums, schools and book stores organize activities to celebrate the work they do throughout the year: opening the world of books to all children.

Since 2004, the Elgin Community College library, and the Gail Borden Public Library started celebrating Children’s Day/Book Day.

April 30th can become a day for remembering the power of words and books in the lives of our young people and for honoring all the languages spoken in the homes of this country.

We are celebrating on weekday when we are all here. Stop at the ECC library this Thursday, April 29th at 10:15 and 11:15 a.m. for two Children’s Programs to celebrate Children’s Day/Book Day – Día de los Niños/ Día de los Libros, and watch Gayle Chiarugi, from Gail Borden Public Library, read, sing, and tell stories from children books.

Give your children the best possible gifts for Children’s Day/Book Day -Día de los Niños/ Día de los Libros: read them a book and give them a book!

Elgin Community College in partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago is taking part in Money Smart Week Chicago. During the week of April 17-24th, ECC, along with many other institutions and organizations in the Chicagoland area will host a series of free presentations and programs to improve the financial literacy of our students and community members. Stop by the library circulation desk to get free brochures and schedules of the programs. You can also print a brochure off of ECC’s Financial Literacy website.

In addition, check out all the financial literacy resources the library has available in our Financial Literacy Research Guide and on display on the shelf across from the circulation desk.

ECC Library is co-sponsoring a special event in celebration of National Poetry month. Join us in Jobe Lounge on April 7th from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm as students, faculty, and staff share their favorite poems. To share an original or favorite poem at the event, please email cgilleran@elgin.edu. Hope to see you there!

Students, faculty and staff are invited to bring a brown bag lunch and take part in a casual, no-stress, lunchtime book club, starting Thursday, November 19 at noon. We’ll kick off our book club with Black Boy, Richard Wright’s celebrated autobiography about growing up in the south during the pre-Civil Rights era. In January, we’ll resume our book club with The Secret Life of Bees, a moving and heartwarming novel by Sue Monk Kidd about a young girl’s search for truth and family. These events are sponsored by The Arts Center and the MAGIC Committee.

Book club dates for Black Boy

Thursday, November 19, noon-1, ECC library

Thursday, December 10, noon-1, ECC library

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Book club dates for The Secret Life of Bees

Thursday, January 28, noon-1, ECC library

Thursday, February 4, noon-1, ECC library

Easy to join:

Step 1. RSVP

Please contact Stacey Shah (x7693 or sshah@elgin.edu) if you’d like to join us on November 19. We look forward to talking with you!

Step 2. Get your books!

Both titles are available in the ECC library and can also purchased in the bookstore.

Step 3. Start reading!

We recommend that you get started before you come to the first meeting, though you are not required to finish the book before November 19.

Step 4. Join us!

Come to the library’s instruction room (SRC 248) on the dates noted above to “meet and eat.” Enjoy your lunch while you gather with like-minded readers to talk about these transformative works of literature. No matter where you are in the books, you are welcome to come to the discussions. Come to one or both discussions for each book. Each conversation will be unique.

Bonus option!

The ECC Arts Center is presenting performances adapted from both Black Boy (February 5) and The Secret Life of Bees (February 6). The performances by the renowned American Place Theatre bring you professional, one-act, verbatim sections of the books. You’ll also enjoy a unique opportunity to talk with the performers and fellow audience members. Dessert and coffee are included in the ticket price. Contact the arts center box office for details (847-622-0300).